Tapping Into Your Heart

Heart As Source Of Higher Intelligence

Have you heard the phrase: follow your heart. Whilst many would agree, others are skeptical as either they followed their emotions instead or did not get the result they wanted. Philosophers have spoken much about this but because those words sound impractical, many dismiss them. Perhaps it is time we talked about higher intelligence in leadership, the true meaning of listen to your heart.

What Is Higher Intelligence?

A mind can be brilliant and still be clouded. Strategy, drive, and intellect are powerful, but when filtered through fear, ego, or overload, they distort rather than guide. Great leadership isn’t just about what you know. It’s also about how clear your internal lens is. In Eastern psychology, this lens is known as citta, the place where higher intelligence is perceived, processed, and acted upon.

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Let us be clear, there is a difference between citta and intellect. Whilst intellect is needed to make better choices in the world, it relies on past data collected. Hence such data is limited. Citta is that place which has wisdom beyond what your mind has collected in the past. If you observe carefully, many successful people they talk about following instinct. Many would have accessed this dimension but then mistake it for their own personal greatness. This is why many leaders who access greatness become impossible to be around.

From Woo Woo To Science

The HeartMath Institute has revealed that the heart is not just a mechanical pump but contains about 40,000 neurons, known as the “heart brain.” This network allows the heart to sense, feel, remember, and make decisions independently of the brain. The heart plays a crucial role in emotional regulation, decision-making, and intuitive insight. HeartMath's studies show that a coherent heart state, characterized by a smooth and harmonious rhythm, positively affects brain function, focus, and emotional stability (McCraty, 2017).

Otto Scharmer, a senior lecturer at MIT, developed a system to access higher intelligence. After interviewing over 150 entrepreneurs and managers, he theorized that opening the mind, heart, and will allows one to sense and be present. He argues that by followign the process outlined below, we access our deeper selves in a way that leads to wisdom beyond individual and interpersonal dynamics (Scharmer, 2016).

U Theory Process Of How To Create From The Future (Scharmer, 2016)

Making Practical For Leadership

What the science is starting to show is that when leaders access this place, they find total clarity about what they should do. However not all leaders are ready to accept what comes through as this higher intelligence is not seeking personal glory but seeking the wellbeing of all. When entrepreneurs are starting they tend to focus on creating wellbeing, even if for personal profit. However as they grow, the profit takes priority and that is when things shake.

This inner clarity becomes especially crucial during conflict, crisis, or complexity — when data may be incomplete, emotions are high, and the path forward isn't obvious. Most leadership models focus on doing — strategic planning, communication, execution. Fewer ask the deeper question: From what state is the leader leading? When citta is clear, leaders experience:

• Clarity without reactivity: Decisions arise from insight rather than impulse.

• Emotional steadiness: A calm mind stabilises the emotional tone of the team.

• Presence: The ability to deeply listen and respond rather than perform or defend.

• Intuition: With less noise, the deeper intelligence of the system can be felt and acted upon.

• Magnetism: People naturally trust and follow leaders who feel internally coherent.

Process For Tapping Into Your Heart

Unlike Western models that compartmentalise emotion, thought, and action, citta-based leadership asks: How can I cultivate the inner clarity from which right action naturally flows?

Here’s a framework for tapping into your heart that managers and executives can integrate:

1. Take A Break: When things cannot add up, take a break from the confusion and find a quiet space. Solitude is essential to find answers as it moves away from noise.

2. Breathe Deeply: Find coherence by taking three long breathes like the US Navy Seals do. 4 second inhale, 4 second hold, 4 second exhale and 4 second hold for three times.

3. Bring Focus By Asking A Question: ask the question on what you need clarity on and imagine you are sending it as an email to the centre of your heart.

4. Stay With Stillness At Centre Of Your Heart: stay with stillness of your heart for at least a minute. Your mind will rebel and send many thoughts. Come back to your heart.

5. Receive A Sense of Knowing: you will know if you received a clear answer when you have this feeling that you know it is the right action, even if your mind rejects it.

6. Ask Your Mind 'How Could This Help?': we are not rejecting the mind but rather we are not being a slave to it. The mind is good at figuring things & decisions not at knowing what is the best course of action. By asking the question you force the mind to do what it does best, figure out how to implement.

7. Write It Down: write how this will help and let go of your personal desires or consequences. Leave the note close to where you sleep.

8. Go To Sleep: doing the above before sleeping is the best approach. During sleeping the mind can process new information better. Once you wake up, see what arises.

9. Act On Sense of Knowing: chances are that when you wake up you will be clearer on what needs doing.

   
   

When To Tap Into Higher Intelligence

The first time I used this, I got more confused. I got that sense of knowing what I needed to do but I thought: 'This can't be right. This is not what I asked for.' This is why you have to give that insight space. It has saved my life many times thinking 'Why am I following this?' only to find how right that feeling of knowing was.

If you don't feel the need to consider the best outcome for others, then this approach is pointless. Use it only to discover the highest path in the moment. Once identified, stop doubting and act. Avoid repeated questioning as this is like adding multiple addresses to a GPS. Identify one destination and focus on it. Review the results, learn, and refine your questions. Like ChatGBT, better prompts yield better answers.

Improving Results

Just as one clears a workspace for creativity, leaders must clear inner space for insight. Daily mindfulness, self-inquiry, or contemplative journaling can act as internal hygiene (Vasudevan, 2011). Imagine driving a car with a fogged-up windshield. You can still steer, signal, and accelerate but your perception is distorted. You're likely to miss signals, overcorrect, or panic.

Clearing the windshield doesn’t give you more “skill”, it reveals the road that's already there.

That’s what citta-clarity offers leaders: accurate perception, even amid uncertainty. That is why it is so important to ensure strategic decisions and performance systems are informed by presence, not pressure. Encourage reflective time for teams, not just output sprints. For instance you can:

• In boardrooms, use moments of silence before high-stakes decisions to settle group energy and activate higher discernment.

• In conflict, model curiosity over certainty: “What am I not seeing clearly here?”

• In strategy, make space for visioning from stillness, not just analytical sessions.

• In performance reviews, track not only what was done, but from what state it was done.

Most leadership development trains the vehicle, the tools, techniques, and competencies. But few traditions teach how to clear the windshield. When the mind is clear, the leader sees differently. They don’t just react to the noise of the moment, they respond to the deeper rhythm of what’s emerging. In a world obsessed with speed and certainty, citta-based leadership is a quiet revolution, one where inner clarity becomes the highest form of strategic intelligence.

References

• Bryant, E. F. (2009). The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: A New Edition, Translation, and Commentary. North Point Press.

• Feuerstein, G. (2003). The deeper dimension of yoga: Theory and practice. Shambhala Publications.

• McCraty, R. (2017). New frontiers in heart rate variability and social coherence research: Techniques, technologies, and implications for improving group dynamics and outcomes. Frontiers in Public Health, 5, 267. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2017.00267

• Scharmer, O (2016). Theory U: Leading from the Emerging Future. A BK business book (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler. ISBN 9781626567986. OCLC 944179658.

• Vasudevan, A. (2011). Citta-shuddhi: Purification of the mind for spiritual awakening. Samata Books.